Chasing the sun
like a farmer on a dry summer. That yellow symbol moved forward one day per day. After that freezing Amsterdam experience I was NOT going to use my two remaining days on my Eurail pass on two MORE cold and rainy days in Berlin.
Sally the Bike & I
Off we go!
From noooo should I really go, to… this’ll be fun. Less luggage this time, but still too much 😂. Can this be cured?
No challenges this time
And that was the recepie for a most enjoyable trip. Just bicycle, eat and drink. With no expectations. That comes from previous visits to berlin. The town, or city might be more appropriate, is darn ugly if you ask me. That being expressed, is also has some very intresting elements that I very much appreciate.
Urban Loft
No challenges includes a room at Urban Loft close to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, through Hotels.com. Best pick? I really don’t know. Comfy bed, and a nice vibe in the lobby / lounge, but it’s unlikely I’ll stay here again. Another great thing was the excellent supermarket DM two doors down the road.
Dinnertime #1 in Berlin
Subconcious high ambition with low expectation. And not starving. What could possibly go wrong? With some assistance over the phone on using the… guide for food. You know which one (or I’ll get to it later). I knew I was fucked, so I just picked a place with hight grades to at least aim for somewhere, so I could pass other places while still hoping that the high grades had some bearing.
The strategy worked beautifully this time. Six kilometres on Sally the bile and I manages passing a restaurant with a line outside. So after confirming the the reviers on the famous rating guide and I do NOT have similar preferences, I could just turn around and head back for the place with a line.
First time for ramen
I know, I’m hopelessly behind on smart phones, and most other things gone digital. Takumi’9 Sapporo in Mitte, at Chausseestraße 124 to be specific. The advantage of coming late AND solo. I waited 15 minutes, and realised I would have my first ever bowl of ramen noodles.
It’s kind of bland food that looks both grown up, apart from the canned corn on the cob which is kids food to me, and exotic at the same time. I quickly realised I was clueless to how to get it into my mouth without messing up like a canned corn eating kiddo. Looked around and decided to BE the grown up and just eat without any ambition of being stylish in the matter.
I’ll definately eat it again. The wooden spoon though…
Breakfast in Berlin
First it’s follow a river on the schedule. You never know what you might find. And eating hungry suits my preferences much better. The river, or rather what I didn’t find at least made me hungry.
Aimless bicycling
Can be a disaster if you’re hungry. It can equally much lead to a very pleasant catch. I know I’ve very far from being the only one that can become waaaay too picky about finding THE place by the escalating level of hunger. This time I was very lucky.
Thea & Coffee
At Birkenstraße 19 the lovely little cafe Thea & Coffee is located. Friendly staff, fairly inexpensive (they only take cash) and very unpretentious chill. I wanted to stay MUCH longer than I did.
The Arts in Berlin
Again, no stress to see everything that seems intresting. That includes no street art on these two days. On the other hand, what IS art?
Memorial of the murdered jews of Europe
From the time I was a child, the Holocaust and what lead up to the holocaust, was the most shameful thing that could happen to a society, and societies. How one could decide that a group of people was supposed to be shunned, dehumanised, and then systematically killed. I was equally ashamed of my own birth countys way of co-operating with the extinguishing power, by preventing jewish people from a refuge in Sweden. During the holocaust we only allowed… 3000 jewish people refuge, and they got a “J” stamped in their passports. HOW was that possible? And how is it possible that we today don’t stand up for jewish people? Instead it’s scarily quiet when jewish youth in Malmös schools are supposed to keep a low profile not to be verbally assaulted. Again… HOW is this possible?
It doesn’t matter how many books I read, documentaries I watch or listen to, or museums I visit. I always learn, or see a new angle in the unreasonable handelling of jews then, and NOW. When is antisemitism going to end?
The holocaust memorial is located at Cora-Berliner-Straße 1, and is open 24 hours per day.
Hamburger Banhof
A part of the National Gallery, located in a former train station that is mainly focused on contemporary art. According to… Wikipedia the art museum is a playground for… a bunch of rich guys displaying their art collections. Some of those art collections were bought with money inherited by nazi regime profiteering. True?
Sorry to say, pretty much nothing but one piece caught my attention. Pardon me.
Museeum shops…
The major NO NO, or… please take the opportunity to build character. Of course, they also compensate for the times I felt none, or very little inspiration from what I saw in the actual exhibits.
I’d love for you to agree on this one looking quite delightful😊
Kauf dich Glücklich
It’s replenish, or rather… café time. I’ve totally given up on Tripadvisor. My dear friend Zohreh is a Tripadvisor pro, but I have absolutely NO skill in interpreting the platform. That doesn’t mean I’m skilled in regular interpretation of other bloggers preferences either. That I’ve learned from not only reading about the Seychelles, but also going there and leaving early cause… I hated it. Yes, I hated it. But 99,2 % of other writing travellers DO love the Seychelles.
Anyway, this place is cute. However.. waffles is their specialty and I arrived ca 2 pm. Meaning there was pleeeeenty of tired and hungry YOUNG kids and their moms. Yes, in Germany dads shine with their absence in the matter of picking up kids from kindergarden or school. Hungry kids are very loud when they physically fall from low blood sugar levels.
The interior and atmosphere is so nice. But unless you like the sound of hungry kids fallong off chairs (low ones), pick another time than I did.
Kauf dich Glücklich seems to be some kind of store chain, and the one I visited was located on Orderberger Straße 44 in the very cozy part of town called Prenzlauer. I went back to this street numerous of times for other places cause I liked the area som very much.
KINDL
Now we’re talking! A bit far, but by far worth ut. I wouldn’t call it a center for contemporary art, cause it’s not that grand. Located in an old brewery. The museum, sorry… center is very anonymously located. I’m 100% sure it has the best vibes during the summer.
I loved the superlarge pieces by Emma Talbot. They married the building itself in the most remarkable of ways.
Cafe Babettes
Also located in the former brewery at KINDL. The old tanks are still in the building and gives a kind of Chernobyl vibe with all the contols still on the walls. Sounds vierd, but I loved it! I could actually have stayed for hours ❤️ listening to the music, sucking in the atmosphere and… charged my phone.
It’s all in the details
KINDL and Babettes is located at Am Sudhaus 3 in Neukölln part of town.
Oh, finally some wine
At Weinerei Forum that I by chance happened to pass an afternoon on my interrailing trip to berlin almost two years ago. Just bicycling by I knew THIS is my kind of place. I didn’t have the time to stop, but I really hoped I’d find my way back- SOOOOO happy I did.
No image will do this place justice. It’s the atmosphere where wine AND socialising in the perfect combination. I’ve nener experienced missing being 25, but here I get hints of… that. It was such a care free meet out and about time of my life. Not planned, and a much higher degree of availability amongst friends and aquaintances cause we hadn’t become stale…. by comfort. Yes, you know what I mean.
Dinner #2
I google restaurants with a line in Berlin. Absolutely no relevant success with that sentence. Still, with some luck and guess work, I DID manage to find another place with a line. WEN CHENG on Schönhauser Allee 10, to be specific. I read somewhere that it had become so popular they had opened a second place.
Standing in line for a dinner in Berlin is nothing like for a club in Stockholm or NYC. Even though the staff is counting us all 😊. All of a sudden I and another solo eating young man are picked out of the line and seated next to each other by a counter. The generation gap was striking 😂 when he told me he wasn’t from Berlin. As much as I detest hanging with tourists I have absolutely NO illusions that I don’t look like one. And here I am next to a young german lad, and HE tells me he’s out of town.
I had to ask him how he found the place, and he told me it had gone viral on… TikTok. I found it hilarious!! He’s on TikTok, and I’m on… 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Pinterest. Still, we both managed finding a GREAT restaurant.
WEN CHENG is famous for their hand pulled noodles. It was absolutely amazing. Next time, if… I’ll pick a less spicy version. Still, it was absolutely delicious.
Breakfast #2
Not aimless this time. I read about, and saw the café Engelberg also at Oderberger (Kauf dich Glücklich) Straße. Loved the interior, so much that I started imagining myself opening such a cosy place. The… breakfast though was a laugh. Their youghurt with granola and berries is more like rolled oats, topped off with some yoghurt and berries.
This being a fact, I still loved sitting in their cafe cause it’s just my kind of interior. Their web is pretty much as… meager as their granola.
Engelberg is located at Oderberger Straße 21.
